Chapter Text
Luffy could not be stopped.
Not that I ever wanted to — his idea was very reasonable and good-intentioned. We all voted for it. With the exception of Mr. Shitty Owlet of course, since he wasn’t at Dadan’s. But then again, his vote wouldn’t have made a difference : the majority was going for Luffy’s idea anyway.
But his presence would have been helpful. Because I just broke a window with my elbow, and it probably wasn’t the best course of action.
« I am bleeding ! » I whisper.
« Well, bleed in silence ! » whispers Sabo back.
The muggle-house not connected to the Floo system definitely threw a wrench in our plan. Trafalgar would have thought about it for sure.
But nooo, he had to stay at his dad’s all summer, because apparently Corazon can’t take care of himself. And also they got a puppy.
I’m so not jealous. I swear.
… The puppy better be pampered !
Anyway, Ohara wasn’t that small of a village, meaning we spent a good hour exploring the streets, with only the moon to light our way. Surely a simple lumos wouldn’t have gotten us expelled ? But Sabo was adamant, so I gave up arguing a while ago. It’s ridiculous though. Why the fuck would the government expel us from school for a simple, non-harming spell ?! They’ve obliviated muggles for less, god dammit. And wouldn’t they want us to keep studying instead, so that we learn to not hurt ourselves — or others ?
Yeah, sometimes I sympathise with Sabo and his never-ending “the government sucks” tirades.
From the hole I just made, I manage to grab the window’s handle. Broken glass sinks its teeth further into my arm. It only burns a bit… a bit more, not going to lie.
I was already in pain anyway, thanks to my first course of action. I should… I can handle it.
The window suddenly opens, making us all tumble into a dark room.
Well. Now that we’re in, I sure hope it’s the right house.
We landed in a decently sized bathroom — they even have a bathtub. Nothing seems out of the ordinary : a bunch of differently sized bottles line up the bathtub, two bathrobes hang on the door, and I spy a pair of boxer shorts suspiciously dangling from a wicker basket. Anything else is lost in shadows.
Luffy crashed down on me with a squeak — my squeak ! The damn tyke not only grew taller, but heavier too, can you believe it ?
He seems to be alright. But while I check on him, he loudly gasps :
« Ace ! Your arm !
— You’re spilling blood everywhere ! » hisses Roronoa. Because we had to bring him, of course. He’s surprisingly the best duellist among us — not that we’re planning on duelling the muggles, but Roronoa knows a few useful jinxes… Some even harmless enough that the Ministry would only send a warning ! Or so he said. I don’t care, as long as I’m not the one getting expelled.
Sabo shushes all of us, ear stuck to the door.
There are only three toothbrushes on the side of the sink. The letterbox in front of the house said : Nico Oran, Roji & Mizuira
No mention of Robin anywhere. If they didn’t share a last name, we wouldn’t have suspected a thing.
There’s a slight chance that they’re only cousins and we really broke into the wrong house, but I highly doubt that. Robin obviously grew up in a loveless house : this only confirms our worst fears.
« Okay, I think the coast is clear : nobody seems to have woken up. Let’s go ! » orders Sabo in a hushed voice.
Just outside of the bathroom, we almost stumble in a flight of stairs. Sabo and I decide to go up, leaving the other two on this floor to quietly search for our target. Hopefully the younger ones won’t fuck this up — Luffy’s been a little ball of fire all evening, but Roronoa should be able to handle him.
The second floor doesn’t seem to be used much. The carpeted floor soaks our steps, as we slowly open a couple of cupboards, followed by a room full of… what I can only describe as muggle stuff.
The last door is locked. I play with the handle a bit, but nothing comes loose. Sabo shrugs, before pointing at the floor, worried. I know, Luffy and Roronoa aren’t the sneakiest of the bunch…
« Who… who’s there ? » asks a small, quivering voice from behind the closed door.
Sabo presses his hands against my mouth because I was definitely about to rage out loud. She was right there !
« Robin ! » he whispers close to the door’s keyhole. « It’s us ! We’re taking you to Mont Corvo ! »
Silence. Sabo finally lets me go-
« You— you can’t ! My aunt and uncle will skin me alive ! » she replies, much closer to us.
« No they won’t ! » I hiss in a perfect imitation of a pissed Trafalgar. I whip out my wand, ready to cast Alohomora… But Sabo grips my hand, frowning and shaking his head.
« You can’t use magic outside of school. » whispers Robin, as if she had eyes out of her room.
« I wasn’t… planning on using magic » I deflate. I mean… how exactly are we supposed to do then ?
« I have an idea. »
I yelp. Roronoa sneaked up on me — he startled me on purpose !
What kind of… He whips out a set of keys with a devilish grin.
« One of them is bound to open the room.
— We found them in the vase we broke. » proudly beams Luffy, springing out of nowhere. « And that, too ! »
He brandishes a wand suspiciously looking like Robin’s.
Wait.
Wait a goddamn minute-
« Y-you broke a vase ? » stammers Sabo.
« Yeah ? Made a lot of noise too. » nods our dearest, stupidest little brother — Roronoa has the decency to cringe, at least. But-
« They keep your wand away from you ? » I roar, anger threatening to roast everything around me — I know I could.
« What is the meaning of this ?! » a hoarse voice yells from the first floor.
…
« Okay, Roronoa, hurry the fuck up please. » I order him.
Robin hasn’t said a word in a while. She’s been making a lot of noise too. She’s like… dragging something heavy on the floor.
A reedy voice joins the first one underneath us. They’re getting closer to the stairs.
The door opens with a click. We all rush inside. Robin is waiting for us, a huge luggage in hand — hence the noise.
She has already lost some pounds. Her skin is greyish, as if she hadn’t seen the sun in ages. She’s got dark rings under her eyes Law would be proud of — if only said eyes hadn’t lost their shine.
Gone is her usual uniform : her clothes don’t fit her at all — she’s drowning in the ugliest sweater I have ever seen.
And her room…
« You live in the attic ? » seethes Sabo.
That’s it. We’re burning everything down. Good thing Sabo said he had “something in mind” if the need should arise !
She ignores him, dancing on her feet :
« Please, can we go now ? »
Right — I run to the only window, a small circular one that barely lets any light in — it’s stuck, of course.
« Not to worry, I have an elbow ! » I reassure my friends. My arm was already bleeding anyway.
Glass drips out of the window, covering the carefully mowed lawn in sparkling pain and blood. Our broomsticks are hovering next to the bathroom, right under me. Okay, thankfully, we should have enough broomsticks for everyone. Because Sabo’s… “parents” (progenitors) agreed to send him a brand new broomstick a few days ago, but only at the promise of not making a fool of himself while playing. « If you must play Quidditch, at least try to bring honour to your name » they said.
Joke’s on them, because the first thing he’s going to do with it is busting Robin out of her prison !
I climb on the curved windowsill, helping Robin up. Zoro grabs her heavy luggage without breaking a sweat (what the hell), and is the first to jump, breaking the last shards on his way. He heavily lands on his broomstick, swaying a bit left to right before getting in control. Okay. Okay, okay, this is happening.
This is it !
Two adults choose this moment to run into the attic. The ugly woman is looking feral — the husband is definitely a pushover.
« What… » mutters Robin, hesitating. I push her without warning. She lands with a yelp on my broomstick. Zoro’s already stretching out his free hand towards Luffy, Sabo jumps without looking back — oh — I’m the last one on the windowsill.
« Don’t you dare ! » yells the (probably) muggle woman, hot on my heels. She launches herself at me, right as I jump to join Sabo.
I miss my landing.
Dangling in the air, I can only grip Sabo’s brand new broomstick as hard as I can.
The pushover husband meekly joins his wife — they’re trying to bring me down ! Sabo can’t take flight, he’d be risking my life. We’re quite high in the air, and under me is a lawn of literal glass shards.
That leaves me only one choice.
Grunting, I try to reach for my pocket…
« Ace ! No wand ! »
… The stupid Underage Sorcery decree ! I cannot be expelled from Hogwarts ! My life would just be over.
The two adults pull harder on my leg — they’ll bring me down, I can’t compete with their combined strength. Everything we’ve done will be for nought. They’ll call Newgate ! Aurors ! We’re doomed for sure.
Something suddenly tickles my nose.
What- — Sabo’s contingency plan… is a feather.
Oh, he’s a damn genius.
I carefully turn my head towards the two adults, grin so large my cheeks hurt.
They must not like what they see, because they pale and loosen their grip. Too late for redemption — one final feather caress, and all hell breaks loose.
I sneeze harder than I ever have.
The windowsill, floor, walls… Everything is suddenly engulfed in a raging inferno. The whole house quickly turns into a huge, fiery bonfire. It almost looks… alive.
The two adults jumped out of the window as soon as the first flame left my mouth. They’re probably not dead. Hopefully badly hurt, and homeless. But not dead. Sucks to be them !
Sabo finally flies away, cackling like a maniac. He can be one scary, genius wizard sometimes.
⁂
« Do I want to know ? » Shanks squints at Robin, who’s trying to hide behind Roronoa. With little success, since she’s easily the tallest of all of us.
« Leave her alone ! » barks Dadan from the kitchen.
She surprisingly turned into a mother hen as soon as Robin set her foot on Mont Corvo. Who would have thought.
Our friend quickly got some colours back on her face. We’ve been feeding her correctly, because Mother Hen Dadan decided to feed us something other than potatoes and chicken everyday.
I even gave her my bedroom — I don’t mind sharing with Sabo. She dumped her ugly muggle clothes, and keeps wearing her old uniform. It’s honestly getting too small on her — we all outgrew our own uniforms, to be honest. Dadan begrudgingly mentioned the need to go on a shopping spree to replace all of our clothes, but now that Robin’s here, she suddenly seems a lot more eager to do so.
Weird, I know. Maybe she got tired of having only boys at her house, and Robin, sweet, well-behaved Robin, instantly swooped her heart.
It’s been a few weeks, and our friend’s nasty relatives seem to not have alerted the authorities. Thank Merlin. I know Dadan wouldn’t shy away from going against the law, but I was really scared we would end up in trouble concerning Hogwarts.
Shanks doesn’t seem to care though.
« Come on Robin, I need to show you the fishing spot ! » Luffy drags her out of the room, Roronoa in tow. Shanks waves them goodbye, before lowering himself in front of us.
« I’m not going to ask… » he winks.
The audacity of this man. He was an adult for fuck’s sake !
« You… You had to have noticed something. » I frown, folding my arms and barely keeping my rage in. « Why didn’t you do anything ?
— Well… » The red-haired man looks sideways, clearly embarrassed. « Sometimes, the legal route… takes time, and doesn’t want to help — or can’t. » He shrugs. « Sometimes, the government just… can’t be aware of everything, or take care of everyone. »
He tousles my hair on his way out — I manage to not bite his stupid fingers off.
« Well, fuck the government. » grunts Sabo. And he’s damn right.
⁂
A couple days later, a familiar owl dropped us a letter during breakfast. Roronoa and Luffy had already left to play “Aurors and Dark Wizards” all day, as kids do.
Us older, wiser, almost adults teens lounged in bed all morning, while Robin read us a horror story with a huge smile and lots of giggles — she was born like that, what can I say.
The letter simply read : « What the hell. » in those unmistakable chicken scratches. No, really, I’ve been looking at these and racking my brains over them for years now. And people wonder why I’m so behind in Potions !
Robin giggled at the sight — turns out she sent Law a letter describing her arrival and first days at Mont Corvo.
« I hope you made it sound like the paradise it is !
— Yeah, the damn Shitty Owlet never wants to spend summer with us — tell him he’s an idiot ! » I grin.
She hides her smile behind her hand, but her shaking shoulders give her away.
Her cheeks are rosier than ever. We recently cut her bangs, so they stopped hiding her eyes — and they’re often glinting with joy these days.
It took a couple of days, but Robin slowly loosened up. She started lounging around Dadan’s garden, while we made sure she never had to do any chores. She kept reading over and over the few books she managed to save from her relatives’ clutches, or chatting quietly with Dadan — who I even spied smiling while she cooked dinner the other day.
She said she felt like a princess — she deserves it, no matter how hard she tries denying it. Dadan finally took her shopping for clothes, and she came back with tons of purple, or blue flowy tunics, dresses and skirts — Sabo keeps teasing her, saying she looks even more like a princess now. He would know, I guess. I’m not too privy on princesses’ fashion.
She even lowered some of her defences, bit by bit.
Until one night, after the kids went to bed, she completely opened up about her past — something Law has yet to do.
We were sitting around a small fire, on a nearby beach. Robin, for some reason, was allowed to use magic, so she was the one to build the fire with a quick spell. Maybe one day we’ll learn how to build a real one.
But anyway, the sun had set a while ago, and Robin was dreamily looking at the stars.
« If you don’t mind me asking… » I started. Sabo gave me a death glare, probably fearing I would prompt her to clam up — as many people do when I start asking questions, somehow. But she cocked her head to the side with a smile.
« How did you end up in your relatives’ care ? »
She didn’t clam up. She bit her lips, looking for her words, but her shoulders stayed relaxed. She started playing with the sand around her feet, slowly painting us a drab picture of her childhood.
« Hm… My mum… I don’t know much about my mum, except that she was a witch. She wasn’t around very often — and then she wasn’t around anymore. » She shrugged, but sadness was slowly clouding her features. Sabo and I held our breaths, sitting as motionless as possible.
« She went missing at sea when I was eight. No one knew who my dad was, so they sent me to my uncle. »
Her face hardened.
« I’ve been their personal house-elf ever since. They even got me an exemption from the Underage Sorcery decree, to make me use spells around the house. Except they kept my wand locked at night or whenever they weren’t around to monitor me. »
Her fists tightened. I suddenly wished my sneezing had barbecued the arseholes alive, Azkaban be damned.
« I don’t know… I don’t know what’s going to happen now. »
She hugged herself, tears gleaming in her eyes. We both rushed to her side, gently rubbing her back to soothe her.
« Well, what a silly question. You’ll be staying with us, of course. » I said.
« Or with Law and his dad — whatever you prefer. » added Sabo, although I bet she’ll prefer Mount Corvo. « You’re not going back, Robin. »
She burst into tears, grabbing onto our robes and stammering words of thanks.
She was going to spend the best summer of her life, we would make sure of that.
⁂
« We should put him on a leash.
— Stop it ! » whines Luffy, worriedly playing with the hem of his shirt.
I mean, what else are we supposed to do ? That damn kid got lost again ! I can’t believe it.
And guess who has to look for his sorry arse ?
« He’s not doing it on purpose… » pouts our little brother.
« I know, that’s what worries me. » grunts Sabo.
Yes, we’re all “worried”, hiding in a thick bush on the outskirts of a muggle village, because some green-haired idiot thought it was a great idea to go on a bloody hike in muggle territory !
I can’t believe it.
« We can’t just waltz in dressed like this. » whispers Robin. « At least take your pointy hats off.
— What’s wrong with our hats ? » I grumble, but she rolls her eyes — okay, okay, I get it.
« And please, for the love of Merlin, let me do the talking. »
Alright. Her evil aunt was a muggle after all — and she was raised among them, since her uncle was born a squib.
After taking a deep breath, she rises out of our bush, dusting herself carefully. We then all follow her lead, as she makes her way into the quaint little village.
Honestly, it looks a lot like a wizarding one, except everyone keeps glancing at us. And the houses are all very similar — not a single misshapen roof in sight. No charmed broomsticks to keep the roads clean, no herd of kneazles roaming the streets in search of a warm spot under the sun.
The hats people wore, if they wore any, looked more like Shanks’ stupid one he keeps wearing during Summer break. I couldn’t spot any useful flower or plant around. We have to hug the damn walls, because we don’t want to be run over by a muggle car. They can’t avoid pedestrians, what a bloody shame. And why do they have so many of them driving around !
No, okay, it doesn’t look like a wizarding village at all.
Robin guides us towards a sloped and cobbled street — a shopping street !
As expected, it looks nothing like Diagon Alley. It’s honestly a very boring street, with drably coloured shopfronts on each side, none of them particularly engaging.
« Oooh, what is this ?
— Luffy, don’t touch that — it’s a hand spinner — you don’t need it. »
I grab the little gremlin by the shoulders and steer him away from the shop full of trinkets — we don’t even have muggle money anyway.
« Hand spinner ? That sounds horrific. » grimaces Sabo.
It probably isn’t that dangerous, judging by the way Robin bursts out laughing, but Sabo still gives the shop a worried look as we walk away.
Our friend decides to approach an old lady sitting on a bench, in front of a small fountain. I’m holding Luffy on the spot, making sure he doesn’t run away and cause his usual mayhem, while Sabo scans our surroundings.
After a brief conversation, the old lady points at an adjacent street — Roronoa was stupid enough to keep his pointy hat and summer tunic on, which the old lady describes as “very peculiar”. I suddenly feel very self-conscious as she gives me a nasty glance — what the hell is her damn problem ?
« No but, for real, what’s wrong with pointy hats and summer tunics ? » I ask Robin when we finally leave the cobbled street.
She grimaces, looking at us up and down.
« Well… pointy hats are silly looking for muggles. And tunics, uh, it’s a feminine attire to them. Robes as well, you know.
— Muggles are stupid. Tunics and robes are perfectly fine for everyone. » says Sabo with an exasperated eye roll. « And pointy hats are a fashion statement. Haven’t you seen Wizarding Vogue ?
— I must admit I haven’t been keeping up to date with wizarding fashion. » she grins, blowing her bangs away.
It’s true, before Dadan’s shopping spree she’d been wearing the same hand-me-down dresses and skirts she wears at Hogwarts, but without her usual Ravenclaw scarf, and none of them looked particularly recent.
« Oh ! I know, I know ! » excitedly beams Luffy. « We could have a fashion show and bring you up to date !
— That’s… actually a sweet idea Luffy. I would love that. » She matches Luffy’s bright smile.
Yeah, we’re never letting her go back to her horrible relatives. Fuck the government, if they ever try to ruin her life, we’ll fight them. And let me tell you, with the Law on our side, we could definitely ruin them.
Anyway, the muggles keep giving us weird stares, but they’re all stupid so it doesn’t matter. We end up on the other side of the village, where the old lady said the green-haired idiot went.
And guess what.
There he is, napping under an oak tree.
« This little fucker. »
⁂
Dear Shitty Owlet,
Guess who got lost again — yes, I kid you not. We had to fetch him at a nearby muggle village, of all places. Thank Merlin Robin was with us, she’s a muggle specialist. Reads all them books about their “science” or whatever.
We organised a fashion show, except we had no cool clothes. Dadan only buys the cheapest — I can’t blame her, money must be tight with so many kids around.
We’ll do another show at school, hopefully it’ll be better.
(please bring your coolest clothes)(you have so many of them, and you probably outgrew them)(thanks in advance)
Anyway, I hope you’re having fun in the arse end of nowhere — there’s a bed waiting for you in our tree hut by the way.
Please make an effort with your handwriting if you answer this.
If not, I guess we’ll see you at the start of school !
Bye,
Ace
⁂
Dear Freckles,
Maybe put the kid on a leash or something.
Also, fuck you, my handwriting is perfectly legible.
See you soon,
Law